Millions of consumers love Airbnb, Uber, and dozens of other similar platforms that have disrupted their respective industries. So what about real estate? – how do their secrets apply?…

Well, first, you have to define what a Platform is.

For this, we can look to the book Platform Revolution: How networked markets are transforming the economy—and how to make them work for you. “A platform’s overarching purpose: to consummate matches among users and facilitate the exchange of goods, services, or social currency, thereby enabling value-creation for all participants.”

To make this more concrete, we can look at the dynamics of Airbnb. The platform itself is Airbnb.com, then there exist two different markets. The consumer. The person who is searching Airbnb for lodging options. And the host, who has posted their room or house as an available option. And in between those two, consummating the match, is Airbnb—and for this value-creation, through the match, Airbnb collects a percentage of the transaction total.

So if the consumer jumps on Airbnb.com to find a suitable housing option for their upcoming trip, and they find one. Booking the room or house, for this match—Airbnb collects, say, 15% of the booking fee. The host gets compensated too, and the consumer has secured a great room or property.

Uber works in exactly the same manner. And, right now, because of people’s preference for this 2-sided marketplace, with a Platform in the middle, to consummate matches, Uber is disrupting the Taxi industry—in the same manner Airbnb is its industry.

From the book, “Airbnb is, in a sense, in the same business as Hilton or Marriot. Like the hotel giants, it uses refined pricing and booking systems designed to allow guests to find, reserve, and pay for rooms as they need them. But Airbnb applies the platform model to the hotel business: Airbnb doesn’t own any rooms. Instead, it created and maintains the platform that allows individual participants to provide rooms directly to consumers. In return, Airbnb takes 9-15% (average 11%) per transaction.

Again, Uber, same thing.

Uber is, in a sense, in the same business as the Taxi cabs—except Uber owns no cars. They simply match the person who wants a ride, with the person who owns a car, and for their middleman status, collect a percentage of the total transaction.

I say all this to create the foundation of similarity between those platforms (Uber, Airbnb) and the traditional real estate office. For example, ABC Real Estate—they’re all the same, so it doesn’t matter which office or brand we reference—through marketing and promotion, tries to build brand awareness for its company, as a means to create demand on the consumer side, which it then can consummate a match, between that homeowner and one of their ABC agents. And, for their role as the middleman—like Uber, like Airbnb—ABC Real Estate then collects a 15 to 50% of the paid commission.

Here, though, is where real estate offices fail, and how the consumer i.e. homeowner gets the short-end of the stick. In Airbnb’s case, consumer demand is built by having more attractive options; rooms, houses, etc. for reservation. If you visited Airbnb and wanted to stay in Queenstown. But only found rooms in a run-down, crappy apartment, that more resembled a homeless shelter than a suitable hotel alternative—you quickly would be turned off.

Alternatively, if you searched for rooms and found that every property, posted by the dozens of Airbnb hosts, was superior in amenities and location, and similar in price—Airbnb would be your new favourite option. You would tell your family and friends. And demand on the consumer side, thanks to people like you, would grow exponentially.

This is, in fact, exactly what you’ve seen with Airbnb and Uber, in their respective industries.

In the real estate industry, though, here’s the problem. The office / licensee, ABC Real Estate, doesn’t have have any agent with any documented alternative, to achieve for the homeowner, a superior result in terms of profit.

Think about it. I mean it. Really think about it.

Think about all the real estate companies that you can possibly name. Harcourts. Ray White. LJHooker. Mike Pero. Professionals. Those are some of the big ones. And now, please enunciate to me, the methodology that any of those companies use to guarantee to homeowners a superior result—more profit, a better experience?

I bet you can’t. And that’s because these brands—and, all brands—none of them operate as true platforms, and do not understand the disruptive forces of the 2-sided market business model.

In part two of this article, we’ll dive deeper. For starters, though, for there to be viral word of mouth, a standardised method/documented approach must exist to guarantee the homeowner the greatest outcome possible.

Author: Carl Slade

Carl is the Founder of Restate Ltd - that is quickly disrupting the real estate industry by tackling, head on, it's two biggest issues - Lack of consumer trust and inefficiently high commissions. He vowed to change it and is on a mission is to elevate the real estate industry into a true profession - "One that clients can trust and agents can be truely proud to be a part of".He has been called "visionary, provocative and straight talking". He is the author of 'The Common Sense Approach to Sell Real Estate' - exposing truths about how the real estate industry really works and helping clients bank more profit from their home sale. He is the Host of 'Real Estate Restated Podcast' - for other agents also wanting to elevate the industry. And the co-founder of Impact Club South Canterbury.To connect with Carl directly regarding positively Changing Real Estate , or other matters, including his real estate business, philanthropy, fund-raising, or community leadership. Email is preferred, and yes, Carl answers every email personally in 24-48 hours or as soon as he can, at: carl@restate.nz

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